Jeff Parker
βIβm always looking for ways to be surprised,β says composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker as he explains the process, and the thinking, behind his new album, Suite for Max Brown, released via a new partnership between the Chicagoβbased label International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. βIf I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, with staff paper and a pencil, Iβm eventually going to fall into writing patterns, into things I already know. So, when I make music, thatβs what Iβm trying to get away fromβthe things that I know.β
Parker himself is known to many fans as the longtime guitarist for the Chicagoβbased quintet Tortoise, one of the most critically revered, sonically adventurous groups to emerge from the American indie scene of the early nineties. The bandβs often hypnotic, largely instrumental sound eludes easy definition, drawing freely from rock, jazz, electronic, and avant-garde music, and it has garnered a large following over the course of nearly thirty years. Aside from recording and touring with Tortoise, Parker has worked as a side man with many jazz greats, including Nonesuch labelmate Joshua Redman on his 2005 Momentum album; as a studio collaborator with other composer-musicians, including Brian Blade, Meshell Ndegeocello, and fellow International Anthem artists Makaya McCraven and Rob Mazurek; and as a solo artist. Suite for Max Brown is informally a companion piece to The New Breed, Parkerβs 2016 album on International Anthem, which Londonβs Observer honored as βthe Best Jazz Album of the Year,β the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times included on their βBest Albums of 2016β lists; and recently, Aquarium Drunkard included it on their βBest Albums of the Decadeβ 2010-2019 compendium. Observer said βno other musician in the modern era has moved so seamlessly between rock and jazz like Jeff Parker. As guitarist for Chicago post-rock icons Tortoise, heβs taken the group in new and challenging directions that have kept them at the forefront of pop creativity for the last twenty years. As of late, however, Parker has established himself as one of the most formidable solo talents in modern jazz.β
βJeff Parker always writes parts that sound unassuming at first listen and unavoidable by the fifth.β
Now Available
Suite for Max Brown
Now Available
Suite for Max Brown
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